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November is a very important month for authors, especially those trying to begin — or for that matter, complete — their very first novel because it’s National Novel Writing Month. Or as those who, in previous years, have found inspiration, camaraderie, and their writer’s voice fondly call it, NaNoWriMo.

Within those thirty days, these authors strive to put 50,000 words on paper. This breaks down to 1,666 words per day.

Doable? Certainly.

Beyond the desire to tell a story, a novelist must have the drive to sit down and write, hour after hour, day after day, month after month — and yes, year after year, weaving cohesive plots compelling characters and realistic dialogue into novels that, from the very first line, entice readers to want to read more.

The desire is one thing. The skills to do so are another. And as with all goals, practice makes perfect.

Tips help, too. The official NaNoWriMo website has plenty to offer. Authors thrive within a community. The published authors I know and respect always welcome the chance to pass forward whatever information they’ve gleaned along the way. In fact, I’ve been posting a tip every day, on my personal blog, AuthorProvocateur.com. Be it your first or fifth or fiftieth novel, if you find yourself at a dead end and can’t figure out why, remember: we’ve all been there.

Have you ever started a book, but for some reason never completed it? Are you writing something now, but perhaps have hit a wall? Use this as a forum. I’ve been there, so pass it by me, and maybe what I say(or others who want to chime in here) will help.

It’s not just some genre film, populated by actors who need a tax write-off. The story is unique (more on that, later), great actors have been cast as characters who are, emotionally, three dimensional, and there is a perfect ending you didn’t see coming.

Any author would be proud to write a book meriting the same praise.

The plot in a nutshell: It’s the future (duh, of course!) and well-paid assassin’s in a dystopian society are paid to kill bad guys from an even more distant future (by, say thirty or so years). The bad guys appear in a pre-determined place, at a pre-determined time, their faces covered in a gunnysack. The assassin’s reward, silver bars, is taped on the victim’s back.

Now, the conundrum: Eventually the assassin will kill themselves. They will know they’ve done so, because the bars taped on the victim’s back are gold. When this happens, they can official retire with the money they’ve collected for all their hits…

But of course they realize that, one day, they too will suffer the fate of their victims, at their own hands.

The anti-hero, an assassin named Joe (Gordon-Levitt) messes up by allowing his older self (Willis) escape. Old Joe wants to kill the boss man who is ordering all the hits on the assassins.

Young Joe wants to make good on his faux pas, before his boss’s henchmen make him pay for it with the loss of a limb, and a life in a box, until his “time” comes. Otherwise, the balance of time-space continuum is thrown out of whack…

In my teens, I read a lot of science fiction. I still have one of my favorites tomes in that genre: an Isaac Asimov anthology. But could I write a good sci-fi novel? At this point, I’d say no. It is a skill I’ve yet to hone. Instead, I’ll enjoy the works of others who do it so well, including sci-fi greats Philip K. Dick, Cormac McCarthy, and our very own Sophie Littlefield, who’s “Aftertime” series is hitting it out of the park.

I’m always in awe of novelists who can “break genre,” and write in a different voice. I eat up MSW’s Karin Tabke‘s medieval historical Blood Sword Legacy series, although I’d discovered her contemporary “hot cops” first. MSW’s Stephanie Bond’s Body Mover romantic mystery series is a delight that both Martin and I enjoy immensely, albeit she’s known the world over for her Harlequin Blazes. And Sophie did it with her distopian sci-fi, which was so different from her Bad Daymurder mystery series

CONTEST ALERT!Be sure to enter my contest for a $100 Gift Card to the Bookstore of Your Choice! Look for details, here…

Also: For a free KINDLE COPY of this digital eBook, comment below on your favorite sci-fi book or story , and why it resonates with you. Winner for the free book will be announced here on MSW, on Saturday.

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.